Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Invest in yourself.

This past weekend, I built a desk. It was the result of not
liking my current set-up; one desk I had acquired back in college and the other
was a corner desk I picked up for about $40 from Walmart when I needed more
surface area. The two made for a functional, yet disjoined marriage that never
quite felt right. So I swung by a home reclamation store, bought a door for $5
and used the Walmart base as the legs. If I had tried to find the same desk
elsewhere I would have had to run to about five stores and paid who knows how
much more. I now have a 6’8” elongated surface for which to place both my
computer set up and to do any paperwork.

And speaking of paperwork, I do my own taxes every year,
sans software or accountants. I just use the robust IRS.gov site to get all of
the booklets and form and, as a result, have saved myself $50 annually by not
buying TurboTax or going to a tax preparer. Honestly, if you don’t have a
business with employees, own multiple properties, or have some other complicated
situation (claiming losses from another year, etc.) there’s a ridiculously good
chance that you can do your taxes on your own, too (I’m not a tax professional,
so take everything I say with a grain of salt). But what about deductions, you
ask? That fear of missing out is what tax pros count on, but good luck finding
or claiming any of those elusive deductions (the standard is pretty generous as
it is). Just saying.

I share these two tales of triumph to illustrate a point
(what? No way!). That point of course is to invest a little time and effort in
learning new skills. Okay, so maybe you don’t want to build a new desk. Maybe
your tastes aren’t as simple (re: awesome) as mine. And maybe doing taxes seems
pretty boring and not worth the money. Fine and fine. But how many other
projects do you give up on before even trying? Changing the oil in your car?
Hanging a picture frame? Changing a light bulb? Do you really want to pay someone
good money to do things an 8-year old can do (no offense to auto mechanics, who
do many, many other things that I cannot do on my own)? To those 8-year olds, I
say, “keep up the good work, youth of America”. To the rest of you, I say, “I’ll
change your light bulbs: $10 per.”